Quilt Shop Tours

The Fabric Incident

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Recently, I’ve been traveling a lot. I’ve become very familiar with the Denver International Airport (DIA). This post is about one of those recent travels and how I got into trouble at a fabric shop that had a ridiculously low price on Moda Grunge.

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Mid-November I traveled to Washington State to visit two of my “Quilting Sisters” Judy and Dana. You may remember their names from previous posts including two recent posts (The Tale of Three Tulas, Part I and The Tale of Three Tulas, Part II).

We had a little quilting retreat at Dana’s house and you know when you get a group of quilters together for a long weekend, the chances are high that there will be an outing to a quilt shop or two…

There are NUMEROUS quilt shops in Washington State, so we visited a curated collection of beloved shops selected by Judy and Dana.

The first shop we visited, Calico Creations in Mount Vernon, Washington, did not allow photos inside their shop, so the only photo I have to share is of the outside.

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It was a lovely shop but I was well behaved in that shop.

The next shop we visited, Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah, WA. They were photo friendly and the interior was beautiful and inviting.

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I bought a couple yards of fabric there and felt proud of how little damage I’d done to my pocketbook.

But then they took me to Annie’s Quilt Shoppe in Shelton, Washington!

Annie’s Quilt Shoppe is home of the $7.99 a yard fabric deals. High quality, major fabric brands at $7.99 a yard (that’s U.S. dollars and for my readers outside the U.S. if you check the conversion to your currency and yards to meters/metres, I think you will all join me in a communal “Wow!”).

I have a secret weakness for Moda Fabrics’ “Grunge” line of fabrics and when I spotted an extensive offering of Grunge fabrics in an extensive palette, I lost my mind and started pulling bolts for cutting.

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Hopefully you can see from the photos above that the Grunge line of fabrics are beautiful  textured solids. They are printed in Japan and come in 200+ amazing colors, textures, and shadings (according to The Fat Quarter Shop).

We had a delightful time with the store owners as they tag teamed cutting my huge pile of fabric. Here I am with my Quilting Sisters Dana and Judy with the delightful shop owners in the background (who were happy for the large sale but likely quite exhausted from cutting all that yardage):

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Forty-five (45) 1 -2 yard cuts later, my pocketbook was damaged but my dream was realized – to have an extensive collection of Moda Grunge fabrics!

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I wasn’t the only one who went a little crazy with the $7.99 a yard fabric offerings. For example, my friend Dana bought yardage from this beautiful selection of fabrics:

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When I got home I had to make room in new fabric storage area for them. Initially I though I could fit them all in one cubby of my IKEA cubby bookcase:

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Alas, they needed two cubbies but I did add in any other Grunge fabric I had already in my collection. In front of the Grunge, I placed my beloved Marcia Derse yardage (see post Fabric Fangirl Frenzy).

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We did not spend our entire long weekend together just shopping, we also spent time sewing together (actually I brought knitting), having wonderful meals, and catching up. Long weekends with good friends are wonderful for the spirit!

Postscript

So you might be thinking: “Okay Tierney, that is a lot of fabric shopping, where are your recent posts about making things with fabric?!?!”

Well I have not posted about my current quilting project because it is emotionally difficult. I am finishing up the last quilt my husband who unexpectedly died last December, started; and it is a gift for one of his family members. But once it is complete and that person receives their gift, I will blog about it.

I do have a follow up to my previous post The (Ridiculously Large) Library Stack.

Even more library books came in! So my stack got even larger! It would have been unwieldy to add the additional books to the stack for a photo, so here is a photo of those additional books on their own:

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Believe it or not, I’ve made a significant dent in my very large pile of library books. Lots of pots of tea and early mornings browsing through the wonderful books!

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

42 thoughts on “The Fabric Incident”

  1. It’s very nice to read about your shopping experience! 🙂
    This weekend I went for the first time shopping for fabric (I’ve just started sewing and I am now working on my first projects) and I struggled so hard to only buy the materials I needed. I went to 2 stores and 1 big materials warehouse and it was a real pleasure to “hunt” for the right materials, cannot wait to go back!

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  5. I was chuckling as I read this because it reminds me of myself on vacation whenever I encounter a book store….and then another book store…and then another and suddenly my bag is over the carry-on weight limit 😋

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  6. So glad that you had a great time! I’m sad that I got sick and couldn’t see you. I’m thinking it saved my purse because I’m a huge Grunge fan. I love seeing your rainbow collection! Can’t wait to see what you create with them. Hopefully we can meet up at another time. ❤️

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  9. Now you have me in serious Grunge envy. But better than that, the delightful weekend visit with your buddies. Good luck finishing Terry’s quilt for the family; I know this has been an emotional roller coaster, but finishing will bring a very satisfied feeling. News reports of Denver weather lately make me glad you found windows of time planes could fly!

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  10. love the pile of fabric and then your attempts to put 45 lengths into just one cubby hole…at least having extend has meant colours shine outwards…

    when I’m away it’s op-shops that get my attention…but last time it was an artist’s friend old books that he insisted I have xyz amount of. I ended up having to mail them back home, as I didn’t want to mislay a bag on the way back home…

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  12. I am waiting for you to visit your “apple pie sisters” where you all gather around the kitchen and create the best apple pies ever.

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    1. I am suspecting you have a thing for apple pies! I do miss my old neighborhood in Central Oregon where I would forage for apples and blog about it. Perhaps in the future there will be more apple pie related posts!

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  13. I love your obsession with Grunge. I do have a warm and fuzzy attraction to Grunge as well. I get so excited when I see pictures of my quilting sisters in quilt shops with huge smiles on their faces….

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  17. I sure can’t blame you for the Grunge gorging! Lucky you! It would be fun to find it at that price, but I’m not sure I could make decisions on it. Likely I’d decide my total budget, and fill it from there!

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    1. I could not resist as I’ve been dreaming about having a nice collection of Grunge for years. Maybe I won’t make anything out of my new stash…I will just admire it 😉

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  19. Wow, beautiful fabrics. I like those colours. Fabrics have the power to uplift your home or office like no other, so selection should be done after careful consideration., get in touch with Red Velvet, they provide superior quality luxury fabrics UAE, and can help you out with a huge variety of some of the best furnishing fabrics.

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